The new face of the historic Cal Weber and McKeegan buildings are now visible after the plastic sheeting and metal scaffolding was removed last week. Construction started in early 2105 on the Cal Weber 40 affordable housing development at California Street and Weber Avenue, and all 40 apartments have been leased. CALIXTRO ROMIAS/THE RECORD

STOCKTON — Tenants will begin moving into a new affordable housing development in downtown Stockton by the end of the month, with renovation nearly complete of two buildings whose combined age is more than 200 years.

All of the apartments at Cal Weber 40 — a 40-unit project at California Street and Weber Avenue — already have been leased, developer Chris Flaherty said Monday. Flaherty said there also is a lengthy waiting list.

“Obviously the community has been super supportive, and there is a need for workforce housing,” Flaherty said.

The project entailed renovation of the 125-year-old Cal Weber Building and the adjoining 88-year-old McKeegan Building.

Construction of a connected parking deck should be complete within 60 days, according to Flaherty. Units are solar-powered and there will be a private playground when the project is finished.

STOCKTON — Workers were busy setting up fencing around two downtown buildings and a parking lot Monday morning, a prelude to the start of construction on an affordable-housing development touted as an early step toward revitalization of the city’s core.

The project will involve renovation of the 124-year-old Cal Weber Building and the adjoining 89-year-old McKeegan Building at California Street and Weber Avenue.

There also will be new construction in the vacant lot formerly occupied by the seedy Land Hotel, which was demolished in 2012. Existing ground-floor retail businesses in the buildings will remain open while the year-long construction project is in progress.

In a much earlier time, the McKeegan building was home to Dreamland Hall, a dance hall that later became Treanan Ballroom. In the late 1800s, the Cal Weber building was occupied by the Columbus Buggy Company and, for a time, the YMCA.

Plans call for Cal Weber 40 to have 28 apartments with two bedrooms and one bathroom, and 12 more with three bedrooms and two baths.

A second affordable-housing and retail project, dubbed Grand View Village, could break ground a year from now if all goes according to the developers’ plans. Grand View is to be located at Hunter and San Joaquin streets and Miner Avenue.

A massive 15-block housing and commercial project for east-central Stockton, announced March 22, will take significantly longer to unfold, developer Ten Space Inc. says.

STOCKTON — A downtown affordable housing project saddled by an 11th-hour controversy cleared what a developer called the “final hurdle” Tuesday night, with construction set to begin in less than three weeks.

The Cal Weber complex, at California Street and Weber Avenue, will maintain existing ground-floor businesses and refurbish the upper stories of a long-decaying structure for new residential tenants. Developers and city officials have touted Cal Weber as a step toward the revitalization of downtown.

But several construction union representatives voiced concern early last week over the lack of a requirement for the builders to pay union wages.

The union reps largely eased off their objections after meeting with developers and city officials again late last week, but Tuesday night they said their philosophical concerns remain. And the easing of the union stance was not unanimous.

“We cannot support an affordable housing project like this that does not have at least a prevailing-wage requirement,” Dan Calamuci of Carpenters Local 152 told the council.

“Requiring prevailing wage ensures the project will fill a critical affordable-housing need but not undercut your workforce. We have to say no to projects that simply create more of a demand for affordable housing.”

Before Tuesday’s affirmative vote, developer Chris Flaherty sought to reassure council members that his group has no intention of using a crew of low-wage workers to build Cal Weber.

“I employ a lot of people in town, in the state of California and in Hawaii,” Flaherty said. “I’ve worked with all unions.”

Flaherty said the council’s initial approval of Cal Weber last June did not include a prevailing-wage requirement. Developers won state tax credits last September through a competitive process, the final step in the financing process. The application for the tax credits, Flaherty said, also did not include a prevailing-wage requirement.

Flaherty said the budget for Cal Weber all along has been based on there being no requirement to pay prevailing wage. Adding such a requirement, Flaherty said, would have blown the budget and caused builders to miss a construction deadline for later this month that is a requirement of the tax credits. Cal Weber would have died, he said.

Councilman Elbert Holman said he was disappointed the prevailing-wage issue was not presented to the council until just a few weeks before the construction deadline.

“I felt like something was being shoved down my throat at the last minute,” Holman said. “I would encourage us to be vigilant in putting policies together that would help deter this type of situation from ever occurring again.”

STOCKTON — Haggling over the price tag attached to a small patch of second-story airspace in downtown Stockton might seem like a punchline in search of a joke.

But during a 77-minute discussion at last week’s City Council meeting, a complex dispute over airspace in the financing package for a new and ballyhooed affordable-housing project in downtown Stockton seemed for a time to jeopardize the deal.On one side were the developers of the 40-unit project that is planned for the woebegone southeast corner of California Street and Weber Avenue.On the other side were trade-union officials concerned about the wages to be paid to the construction workers who will be hired to build the project, dubbed Cal Weber 40.A week ago, the gap between the sides seemed to be a gulf.

Seven days later, it appears the gulf has been bridged. The City Council will hold a special meeting tonight at City Hall to discuss the matter again and to cast their votes on the air-rights issue. If the resolution passes, developers expect to break ground in 27 days.

“I’m comfortable with it,” Mayor Anthony Silva said late Monday afternoon. “Obviously, this project is good for Stockton, especially downtown Stockton, and it’s something that needs to happen. If we’re going to show that Stockton is a healthy city coming out of bankruptcy, we definitely need to start building again.”Councilman Michael Tubbs convened a 60-minute meeting Friday afternoon between developers and union officials to hammer away at the matter.

“They talked it out,” Tubbs said. “Questions were asked and posed. I was excited because at the end, I felt relationships were formed between the unions and the developers.”

The projected cost of the Cal Weber project is $12 million, paid for through various government loan programs and tax credits.Included in the project, representing 3 percent of the total cost, were the air rights above Stockton’s downtown Lot K on American Street between Main Street and Weber.

The developers, including locals Anthony Barkett and Chris Flaherty, plan to build a second-story parking deck for residents above Lot K as part of the Cal Weber project.When the council unanimously approved the project last June, plans called for the city to lease the air rights to the developers for 55 years at no cost.

Last Tuesday, however, the council was asked to approve an air-rights lease containing different terms — 65 years with a $370,000 payment from developers to the city about two decades before the start of the 22nd century.

Why the revision? Developer Danny Fred told the council that if the lease was not revised, financing for the project would be scuttled. Fred said receiving an outright gift of the air rights from the city would, by law, have triggered a requirement for developers to pay all Cal Weber construction workers at union rates. That requirement, Fred said, would significantly increase construction costs.

“A 25- to 30-percent increase on a project like this, there would be no project,” Fred said.Union representatives quickly stepped forward, voicing concern that developers might be maneuvering to build Cal Weber on the cheap with low- or minimum-wage workers.“I think it’s kind of ironic that we’re talking about affordable housing for the working poor,” Sal Rotolo, the business representative for Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 104, said at last week’s council meeting. “How about we build some projects with workers who are being paid an affordable wage?”

The council ultimately tabled the matter. Friday, Tubbs and City Manager Kurt Wilson hosted the meeting with the unions and the developers. Tonight, the council once again will consider the 65-year lease with the $370,000 payment.

On Monday, Barkett called the Friday meeting “very productive” and added that developers never intended for Cal Weber to be a “prevailing wage” project. But he also said there is no intention to bring in low-wage laborers and said local construction crews will be doing the work.

“We all came together, we worked through it, we intend to use union contractors and we currently use union contractors,” Flaherty said. “We won’t be using exclusively union contractors, but we have some non-union contractors who we have employed before and they’re going to be on the project, as well.”Said Rotolo: “More than likely we’ll probably back off and allow the project to go through. I can guarantee you we’ll be monitoring it very closely. If we find out our workers are coming from outside the area and are getting paid low wages, then the next time we’ll have to draw a line in the sand.”

— Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.

The long fermenting desire to have more affordable housing in downtown Stockton just got hooked up to the proverbial development jumper cables.

It’s called the Cal Weber affordable housing project, named for the intersection of two prominent downtown streets.

This week, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee gave the go-ahead to the project. Construction could begin within six months and the 40-unit complex could be ready for residents to move in by March 2016.

“We’re excited to see this project move forward,” City Manager Kurt Wilson said. “I think it’s a big first step toward getting people into downtown. This is really a well thought-out project.”

There is other downtown housing, but this project hopefully will spearhead the type of urban — hip, if you will — housing that is sought by many in other cities.

Cal Weber will be at the current location of the McKeegan Building and the Cal Weber Building, while also utilizing the former Land Hotel vacant lot.

While there has been limited trepidation voiced about the project, the general agreement is that this sort of complex — if successful — could lead to more developments.

As one downtown developer stressed: “It’s going to create more street-level vibrancy.”

The equation for a successful downtown Stockton must include the housing element. There are entertainment options (an arena, ballpark, movie complex, theater and more) as well as restaurants (although more are needed).

Charter schools have set up shop downtown, with the area teeming with children during daytime hours.

The waterfront area continues to be a concern, especially with the current putrid smell of decaying algae.

But there are many people working to bring vibrancy to downtown Stockton. The Cal Weber project could be a great next step.

STOCKTON — Downtown advocates for years have dreamed of residential housing in the heart of Stockton, creating a center-city buzz and a humming urban ambience.

A decision Wednesday by a state body in Sacramento is expected to bring the decades-long wait for such a development to an end. The proposed 40-unit Cal Weber affordable housing project is a go.

Construction could begin in six months and residents might be able to start moving into the complex by March 2016, Chris Flaherty and Danny Fred of DFA Development said after learning of the nod from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.

“We’re excited to see this project move forward,” City Manager Kurt Wilson said. “I think it’s a big first step toward getting people into downtown. This is a really well thought-out project. It’s going to get more people on the street, make it safer and make it more inviting for more projects like this in the future.”

The complex will be located at the southeast corner of Weber Avenue and California Street. It will boast solar-powered units, a computer lab and a playground for residents’ children. Residents also will have private parking.

It will be the first new downtown affordable-housing project in years and will stand at the current sites of the McKeegan Building and the Cal Weber Building. It also will put to use a vacant lot formerly occupied by the Land Hotel, which was demolished two years ago.

Though the developers and city officials say Cal Weber could be just the needed spark for downtown reinvigoration, at least one business owner has reservations.

Kristyn Wilson, who owns a downtown insurance agency, said last week she fears Cal Weber will wind up as just another flophouse in the heart of the city and is waiting to be convinced otherwise. She also speculated willing residents might be scarce.

But David Garcia of the Cort Group, another downtown developer, disagreed with her assessment.

“It’s important to realize this is going to be a well-managed project,” Garcia said. “It’s going to be for working families. … I hope people don’t immediately dismiss it as a project that’s not going to produce the desired results. It’s going to create more street-level vibrancy.”

Said Flaherty: “It will be a place where (residents) can work and afford to live. It will be a new product. It won’t be an old hotel converted to (single-room occupancy). It’s going to be something downtown Stockton can be proud of. It’s a catalyst.

“This is just the beginning, hopefully, of what is going to take place over the next 10 or 20 years.”

Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.

STOCKTON — New businesses and attractions, some already operating and some preparing to open, are dotting downtown Stockton these days, ranging from a Mexican ice cream shop to a Filipino history museum.

Now, ready-made customers soon may be moving downtown, as well.

A proposed affordable housing development at California Street and Weber Avenue is on the brink of the government approval it needs for construction to move ahead.

Micah Runner, Stockton’s director of economic development, said he is encouraged by the prospect of affordable housing in the city’s core. It would be another step, he added, toward creating the vibrant downtown Stockton is seeking.

“It’s going to be organic, incremental growth — exciting projects here and there,” Runner said Wednesday. “Individually they don’t look like a lot, but as you build momentum you see some good things happening.”

It was in June that private developers released plans for the $12 million Cal Weber 40 project — a modern, new apartment complex boasting solar-powered units, a computer lab and a private playground for its residents. It would be the first new downtown affordable-housing project in years.

The developers have said that for Cal Weber to move forward, they would need to be successful in a competitive process to win tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.

It appears the developers have achieved their goal. The California State Treasurer’s office has recommended the Cal Weber project for approval, and the tax credit committee is slated to vote on the matter Wednesday morning in Sacramento.

Chris Flaherty of the DFA Development group declined comment this week pending the upcoming vote. Runner said, “We’re anxious to see final approval next week and see what happens.”

In June, Flaherty said if the tax credits were approved, construction could begin by early next year and the project could be ready for occupancy in early 2016.

The project would involve renovation of the 123-year-old Cal Weber Building and the 88-year-old McKeegan Building, and new construction in the vacant lot formerly occupied by the seedy Land Hotel, which was demolished two years ago.

Flaherty said retail businesses on the ground floor of the Cal Weber and McKeegan buildings would be able to maintain operations during construction and would be much more attractive to the public afterward. Plus, he said, they’d have built-in potential customers living in the same building.

“It has the feel of a new, urban project,” Runner said this week. “We have to create that activity and that flavor here.”

Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.

STOCKTON – A modern new apartment complex boasting solar-powered units, a computer lab and a private playground would sound inviting under any circumstances.

But along with its intriguing bells and whistles, a new project proposed for Stockton carries with it an extra jolt of hope for advocates for the revitalization of the struggling city.

That’s because if this project ultimately comes to fruition, it will provide for the first time in years a new affordable-housing option for people interested in living downtown.

“I think it’s going to be very urban and hip and attractive,” Councilwoman Dyane Burgos Medina, whose district includes downtown, said Friday of the proposed Cal Weber 40 project at the southeast corner of California Street and Weber Avenue.

Chris Flaherty, one of the project’s developers, said he hopes it will “be a catalyst … to future dwellings being built in the downtown core.”

He added, “It can be a good showpiece, especially after everything Stockton has been through.”

If the City Council approves the proposal at Tuesday night’s meeting, Flaherty said his group next month will enter a competitive process to seek tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.

If that effort succeeds, Flaherty said construction of the $12 million project could begin by early next year and the project could be ready for occupancy in early 2016. Flaherty said if the July pursuit of tax credits fails, his group will try again at the next opportunity in March.

The project would entail renovation of the 123-year-old Cal Weber Building and the 88-year-old McKeegan Building, and new construction in the vacant lot formerly occupied by the seedy Land Hotel, which was demolished nearly two years ago.

Flaherty said retail businesses on the ground floor of the Cal Weber and McKeegan buildings would be able to maintain operations during construction and would be much more attractive to the public afterward. Plus, he said, they’d have built-in potential customers living in the same building.

Flaherty said his group, DFA Development, will complete a private purchase of the two buildings if it gets the tax credits. The buildings, which share a common wall, then would be combined into one during renovation.

DFA also has offered Stockton the $190,000 market value of the vacant lot where the Land once stood. That’s where the playground would go. And DFA would lease air space above a city-owned parking lot behind the two buildings to construct private, elevated parking for residents of the new apartments.

Micah Runner, Stockton’s director of economic development, said a private developer’s desire to bring a residential project downtown is a promising sign.

“I think we’re starting to see a little momentum,” Runner said.

Runner and others cite the openings in recent years of two charter schools in the neighborhood as attractions for families considering a move into Stockton’s core.

“It’s an exciting project,” said Anthony Barkett, a developer and a business partner of Flaherty’s. “It’s going to serve families in the $30,000, $35,000 range – good, hardworking families with kids who can walk to school. It’s got an urban feel to it.”

Long ago, the McKeegan building was home to Dreamland Hall, a dance hall that later became Treanan Ballroom. In the late 1800s, the Cal Weber building was occupied by the Columbus Buggy Company and, for a time, the YMCA. If all goes according to plan, Cal Weber 40 will have 28 apartments with two bedrooms and one bathroom, 12 more with three bedrooms and two baths.

“We believe there is a market,” Flaherty said. “We believe there is a demand. There are always waiting lists throughout the state for family projects. Even though it’s adaptive reuse, for all intents and purposes it’s going to be a new product.”

Runner said the next big step would be to attract a middle-income residential project.

“Obviously, the crown jewel is market-rate housing downtown,” he said. “A project like this on the affordable side is a piece of the puzzle that’s needed to re-energize the downtown.”

Cal Weber 40 could be the newest phase in improvements occurring along Weber Avenue from the waterfront on the west to the Cabral train station on the east. A major street-repair project is under way west of the train station, and several buildings are being renovated along the broad thoroughfare. Additionally, ground recently was broken on Weber Avenue for a new 13-story courthouse scheduled to open in 2016.

“We’ve always tried to look at projects in and around the downtown core,” Flaherty said. “It seemed like perfect timing for a family-style tax-credit project.”

Runner added, “The solution (for downtown) is not one huge project splash. It might be a little more organic. It’s a good start. It’s good momentum.”

Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.